- D’Onta Foreman unaffected by Chuba Hubbard’s return: Hubbard started for Carolina three weeks ago, but that didn’t stop Foreman from being the primary source of offense for the Panthers.
- Laviska Shenault scores in an increased role: The former Jaguar made his first start of the season and scored the first touchdown of the game.
- Cordarrelle Patterson’s quiet night: Patterson didn’t have much success with the ball in his hands, but there is reason to believe better days are ahead.
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PFF's fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2022.
ATLANTA FALCONS @ CAROLINA PANTHERS
- D’Onta Foreman: 31 carries, 130 yards, 1 touchdown
- Laviska Shenault Jr.: 2 carries, 42 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 receptions, 17 receiving yards
Chuba Hubbard returns to the Panthers: Hubbard missed the last two games with an ankle injury but was able to return after practicing.
- D’Onta Foreman remained the starter after two 100-yard performances despite barely contributing last week.
- Foreman remained the early-down back in most situations, mostly leaving the field after playing a few consecutive snaps.
- Hubbard’s primary role was as a third-down back, but the Panthers offense was playing well enough that it did not see too many third-and-long situations.
- Rookie Raheem Blackshear mixed in on early downs and was used interchangeably with Hubbard.
- The game script and weather kept Carolina running, which allowed Foreman to see plenty of value in the run game.
- If the game script was flipped, Hubbard would have likely seen more playing time.
- There is still a chance Hubbard could have fantasy value if he was limited tonight on early downs because of the injury. Ideally, he would be taking all of Blackshear’s snaps and cut a little into Foreman’s workload. If this is the plan going forward, then Hubbard won’t have much fantasy value.
- Foreman needs to be in starting lineups if the game is expected to be relatively close, but if the Panthers are expected to be blown out, he would only be a borderline starter.
The Panthers' new slot receiver: Laviska Shenault Jr. received more offensive snaps than Shi Smith for the first time this season.
- Shenault started a game for the first time this season.
- He scored the game’s first touchdown on a backward pass where he ran 41 yards for a touchdown.
- The Panthers offensive coordinator is Ben McAdoo, who was the quarterback coach with the Jaguars during Shenault’s best fantasy season.
- Smith still received significant snaps from the slot even though he fell to fourth on the depth chart. There is still room for Shenault to see even more snaps going forward.
- He can be picked up in deep fantasy leagues as his role could continue to expand. He primarily would be a fun cheap dart throw in DFS with his big play potential.
Cordarrelle Patterson’s second game back: Patterson saw a slight increase in playing time in his second game back, but that didn’t translate into a better fantasy performance.
- Patterson’s snap rate was higher this week than last in neutral situations, largely coming at Caleb Huntley‘s expense.
- He played in over 50% of snaps over the first three quarters but only played two snaps in the fourth quarter, as he’s not the Falcons' passing down back when they play from behind.
- The Falcons lined him up as a wide receiver more frequently in this game compared to most this season. At times, he played wide receiver on third down or in the fourth quarter with Tyler Allgeier in the backfield.
- Avery Williams was primarily used during the two-minute drill. He remains the league’s only two-minute drill specialist at running back.
- Both Huntley and Williams had high yards per carry, but that was only because their successful runs came in situations where Atlanta was clearly expected to pass.
- Patterson is a buy-low candidate after this game. The Falcons have the second-easiest schedule going forward, which will leave them in more game scripts where they can stick to the run.
Table Notes
• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
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